It’s not been confirmed where the game of Omaha actually came from, but Bob Ciaffone gave a very believable story in his book “Omaha Hold’em Poker”.
Ciaffone stated that it began in Nevada, (not Omaha, Nebraska, as you may naturally assume), as players participated in a variant of Texas Hold’em that required every payer to use their 2 Hole Cards when developing a showdown hand. Later, in Las Vegas, the name Omaha was picked up to label another variant that used 4 Hole Cards, but again required 2 Hole Cards to be used. Since the previous variant required Hole Cards, the name stuck to define this rule.
“Nevada sets the fashion for the rest of the nation, and indeed the world, where gambling matters are concerned.” Ciaffone penned, “ So we finally have one international name, Omaha, to describe this four-card game of the holdem family that had acquired so many local names during the 70’s and early 80’s.”
According to Tad Perry, poker player and author of “Texas Hold’em: An In-Depth Study” (as relayed by Alan Bostick, who has done much research into the history of poker variants), Omaha actually originated in or around Seattle, where a group of avid poker players looking for the wildest action came up with a variant they called “four-card Hold’em”.
Players received 4 Hole Cards and had to use 2 of them in final hand development, just like the Omaha game we play today.
At the Golden Nugget Casino in 1982, a group of these Seattle poker players take to the tables – right about the time the ’82 WSOP is going on. One player asks the dealer if they can play “four-card Hold’em”, to which the dealer replies that they can play any game the wish, so long as everyone at the table agrees.
After some time, Billy Boyd came to observe the table and see what was going on, as a number of locals have gotten their clocks cleaned attempting to compete with the Washington boys. Boyd was impressed with the game’s deign and high-intensity, deciding to spread it throughout other tables over the next few weeks. He renamed it “Omaha Hold’em”.
According to Bostwick, Perry claimed to have played in some of the home games where “four-card Hold’em” was invented, but this story, like Ciaffone’s, is also unconfirmed.
It wasn’t long before Omaha was played in all limits, including the current favorite and immensely popular Pot Limit Omaha.